Psychosocial interventions for common mental disorders: perceptions and training demands in family and community medicine

Abstract

There seems to be an insufficient use of psychosocial interventions (PI) by family and community physicians in addressing common mental disorders (CMD) in Primary Health Care, compared to what is recommended by the literature and representative entities of the specialty. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of second-year (R2) residents of family and community medicine residency programs in Minas Gerais about using PI in the management of CMD. This is a descriptive, quantitative study, carried out through a semi-structured questionnaire applied between October and November 2020. Of the 102 active R2 residents in the state, 46 participated in the survey. Residents surveyed were mostly women (67.4%), with a mean age of 30 years. Almost all residents (97.7%) claimed to use PI for CMD approach, but only 53.4% ​​reported applying them in more than half of the cases. The least used PIs and in which they reported less competence were: problem solving therapy; behavioral activation and guided meditation/mindfulness. About 78% reported experiencing difficulty in using PI and 45.6% considered the residency contribution in learning about IP for CMD to be “little” or “none”.